Saturday

The whole of day 5 was spent on the road, covering 450km to reach a campsite near the border with Western Sahara. Western Sahara is a disputed territory claimed by Morocco but which is recognised as an independent state by around 80 countries. Its official status is still ‘disputed’ with the UN despite the fact that the controversy has been ongoing for over 30 years. A large proportion of the West Saharan people (or Sahrawis as they are known) are living in refugee countries in neighbouring Algeria – a country from which many goods are imported. Morocco’s treatment of the people and the country has been widely condemned and the standard and cost of living for the Sahrawis makes life very difficult.

On our way down, we stopped at a market where there were all kinds of fruit and vegetables for sale as well as chickens and camels (we found out that 1 woman was worth about 5000 Dirhams). We finally had the chance to indulge in the fruit that we have been craving for these first days, Rich enquired about buying a camel, and we also bought a pumpkin for our token American on the trip, Kristy, who was missing her slutty Halloween celebrations back home.

After a good 12 hours on the road running parallel to the Atlantic coast, Mark took a right hand turn into what looked like an empty abyss of desert. Most of us in the back had fallen asleep shortly after our Halloween celebrations (which included opening some beers, hiding beers from checkpoint police, singing national anthems and imitating different accents) but we woke to find ourselves off-roading and expecting that Mark had given up hope of us finding the campsite and opted for some rough camping in the desert. However, as we progressed we saw the odd sign with a tent and arrows indicating that maybe Mark did have an alternate plan in mind, and after 20 minutes or so we pulled up at an amazing little place complete with Bedouin-style tents, mattresses and warm showers. The campsite is owned by a French couple who have been living in the middle of nowhere for the last few years. We asked no questions, but the exact reasons why they are here doing what they do remain a mystery, The words ‘tax’ and ‘evasion’ may have been uttered over dinner, but we couldn’t possibly say by whom!

Unfortunately the promised camels steaks were not available because we were arriving too late, so Rich and Victoria treated us to a delicious lamb stew (sans testicle) and the Oxo Young Cook of the Year 1991, Rich managed to get by with a beef-flavoured Knorr cue rather than his ingredient of choice.

Those up early enough the following morning were able to admire the beautiful sunrise over the cactus studded, hard rock desert. After packing up the truck breakfast was served, what a treat after days of porridge: fried eggs, fresh bread, freshly squeezed orange juice, tea and coffee, and of course our favourite – cheese triangles. After leaving the goats our left over 2 day old pasta we head off to Laayoune and through our first border crossing into Western Sahara.